I usually focus on the foibles of the Food and Drug Administration as it attempts to protect our health, as long their policies don't interfere too badly with the profits of the mega-farms, food manufacturers, and big pharma.
But here's another agency of our government, using our tax dollars, passing laws that undermine our own sense when it comes to protecting ourselves and our families at a time when so many families need exactly to reduce, recycle, and re-use in order to survive this economic crisis.
I share this post from Etsy.com as part of a concerted movement on this day...
As parents and concerned citizens I’m sure most of us at one time or another have been confronted with the question of lead poisoning. But have you asked yourself what your government is doing to protect your children from lead contained in toys? The answer? They're banning toys, taking books from schools and libraries, hurting low income families, killing entrepreneurial spirit and risking putting the economy in an even greater depression than we've seen in decades. I'd like to introduce you to their solution: the CPSIA.
Do you know about the CPSIA? No? Then I ask you to take a few minutes to find out about it.
The CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a new set of laws that will come into effect on 10 February, 2009 and will impact many, many people in a negative way. Make no mistake, this is very real. View it for yourself. If Forbes, the American Library Association and numerous other media are paying attention, perhaps you should too.
How will these new laws affect you? Well, here are a few examples:
To the Parents of Young Students:
Due to the new law, expect to see the cost of school supplies sky rocket. While those paper clips weren't originally intended for your student to use, they will need to be tested now that your 11-year-old needs them for his school project. This law applies to any and all school supplies (textbooks, pencils, crayons, paper, etc.) being used by children under 12.
To the Avid Reader:
Due to the new law, all children's books will be pulled from library and school shelves, as there is no exemption for them. That’s okay though, there's always television. Our children don’t need to learn the love of reading after all.
Article from the American Library Association http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322
To the Lover of All Things Handmade:
Due to the new law, you will now be given a cotton ball and an instruction manual so you can make it yourself since that blanket you originally had your eye on for $50 will now cost you around $1,000 after it's passed testing. It won't even be the one-of-a-kind blanket you were hoping for. Items are destroyed in the testing process making one-of-a-kind items virtually impossible. So that gorgeous hand-knit hat you bought your child this past winter won’t be available next winter.
To the Environmentalist:
Due to the new law, all items in non-compliance will now be dumped into our already overflowing landfills. Imagine not just products from the small business owners, but the Big Box Stores as well. You can't sell it so you must toss it. Or be potentially sued for selling it. You can't even give them away. If you are caught, it is still a violation.
To the Second-Hand Shopper:
Due to the new law, you will now need to spend $20 for that brand new pair of jeans for your 2-year old, rather than shop at the Goodwill for second hand. Many resale shops are eliminating children's items all together to avoid future lawsuits.
To the Entrepreneur:
Due to this new law, you will be forced to adhere to strict testing of your unique products or discontinue to make and/or sell them. Small businesses will be likely to be unable to afford the cost of testing and be forced to close up shop. Due to the current economic state, you'll have to hope for the best when it comes to finding a new job in Corporate America.
To the Antique Toy Collector:
Due to the new law, you'd better start buying now because it's all going to private collection and will no longer be available to purchase. “Because the new rules apply retroactively, toys and clothes already on the shelf will have to be thrown out if they aren't certified as safe.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189645948879745.html
To the American Economy:
Already struggling under an economy that hasn’t been this weak in decades, the American economy will be hit harder with the inevitable loss of jobs and revenues from suppliers, small businesses and consumers. The required testing is far too costly and restrictive for small businesses or individuals to undertake.
To the Worldwide Economy:
Due to this new law, many foreign manufacturers have already pulled out of the US market. You can imagine the impact of this on their businesses.
If you think this is exaggerating, here is a recent article from Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html
And for those of you prepared to be stupefied and boggled, The New Law
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html
Did you know? If this upsets or alarms you, please react.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Welcome to My Wise Wellness Woman Blog
Welcome.
You found your way here because you're searching for an answer, and you wonder if this is a place you can trust.
Why, you say, should I listen to you, Wise Wellness Woman*, when there's so much out there?
I know stuff. Stuff that might help you live longer with greater health, abundance, and joy. I've surrounded myself for nearly fifty years (I'll give the first ten to basics) with smart people whose lives have been models for us all and books by other smart people on so many subjects. I took to heart the idea of life-long learning, and I'm a forever student. I was a teacher by default long before I became one by training. It's my passion and my purpose.
But, you say, we know stuff, too.
I bet you do. Know stuff. We all do. Then we ask ourselves...How much stuff that we know is true? How much matters? How much do you know that has made your life healthier, happier, and more abundant?
I'd been a classroom teacher for years, and my students know lots of stuff (teens know more than most adults will ever hope to learn...at least that's what they tell us). But they didn't know what I had to teach them about their lives. Which means their parents didn't, either.
"Where do you get all of this stuff, Mrs. M.?" they'd ask with disdain, then amazement, awe, and for some, thankfulness and resolution.
"I pay attention," I'd respond. "And I read."
That did it. Read? When they didn't have to? Do you? (Students mostly don't even read when they have to. Ask them. Why do you think so many high school students admit to cheating on tests?)
So I read for them. And I taught them things that affect their lives every day.
Ordinary things that affect YOUR life everyday. And the lives of your CHILDREN.
Things that mean you could choose HEALTH over illness; FRIENDSHIP over dispute; and financial ABUNDANCE doing what you love instead of the struggle that's what you've been taught is the only way. You could choose to be full of JOY in every moment, in every situation.
My students thought I was nuts. But eventually they came to realize that they have a choice: to keep doing what they're doing or wake up to their own genius, that they can make SIMPLE changes in their thinking and being that can lead them to live their DREAMS.
So what is this stuff you need to know but maybe don't? Stuff that's not the newspaper headlines or the top stories on the nightly news or even mentioned in the 24-hour cable news cycle?
Stuff that if you knew, you, too, could have good HEALTH, joyful RELATIONSHIPS, and financial ABUNDANCE?
Despite the headlines? The health crisis? The economy?
With SIMPLE changes?
So what do I know? How about?
Yeah, maybe. But these students of mine took from my classroom an understanding that they are truly capable of all that they can envision for their lives...and more. They thanked me as they crossed the graduation stage for their diplomas, as they crossed the bridge to the rest of their lives.
The '60s revolution of love, peace, and equality for all shaped me, as it did so many other boomers. We may have been sleeping for these decades (I haven't seen a love-in for years...at least until Pete Seeger sang at the bash before Obama's inauguration), but we're awake again now, and our "grandmother/father" wisdom is spilling out.
So, I say, what have you got to lose by checking in with me every once in a while. After all, I've done the reading...I may just have the answer you're looking for.
Blessings,
Judy
*If you haven't read my first post, Wild Wise Woman is the archetype...the original model. A part of her resides in all of us.
You found your way here because you're searching for an answer, and you wonder if this is a place you can trust.
Why, you say, should I listen to you, Wise Wellness Woman*, when there's so much out there?
I know stuff. Stuff that might help you live longer with greater health, abundance, and joy. I've surrounded myself for nearly fifty years (I'll give the first ten to basics) with smart people whose lives have been models for us all and books by other smart people on so many subjects. I took to heart the idea of life-long learning, and I'm a forever student. I was a teacher by default long before I became one by training. It's my passion and my purpose.
But, you say, we know stuff, too.
I bet you do. Know stuff. We all do. Then we ask ourselves...How much stuff that we know is true? How much matters? How much do you know that has made your life healthier, happier, and more abundant?
I'd been a classroom teacher for years, and my students know lots of stuff (teens know more than most adults will ever hope to learn...at least that's what they tell us). But they didn't know what I had to teach them about their lives. Which means their parents didn't, either.
"Where do you get all of this stuff, Mrs. M.?" they'd ask with disdain, then amazement, awe, and for some, thankfulness and resolution.
"I pay attention," I'd respond. "And I read."
That did it. Read? When they didn't have to? Do you? (Students mostly don't even read when they have to. Ask them. Why do you think so many high school students admit to cheating on tests?)
So I read for them. And I taught them things that affect their lives every day.
Ordinary things that affect YOUR life everyday. And the lives of your CHILDREN.
Things that mean you could choose HEALTH over illness; FRIENDSHIP over dispute; and financial ABUNDANCE doing what you love instead of the struggle that's what you've been taught is the only way. You could choose to be full of JOY in every moment, in every situation.
My students thought I was nuts. But eventually they came to realize that they have a choice: to keep doing what they're doing or wake up to their own genius, that they can make SIMPLE changes in their thinking and being that can lead them to live their DREAMS.
So what is this stuff you need to know but maybe don't? Stuff that's not the newspaper headlines or the top stories on the nightly news or even mentioned in the 24-hour cable news cycle?
Stuff that if you knew, you, too, could have good HEALTH, joyful RELATIONSHIPS, and financial ABUNDANCE?
Despite the headlines? The health crisis? The economy?
With SIMPLE changes?
So what do I know? How about?
- disease is almost entirely preventable
- most of the food in our grocery stores is not fit to eat
- pharmaceutical drugs kill more people every year than terrorism
- everyday chemicals poison our homes, our water, our bodies
- garden herbs and the right foods treat and reverse illness
- alternative health practitioners are an essential part of a wellness plan
- we can live more simply without sacrificing progress
- you were, indeed, born a genius
- you have depths of ability you haven't begun to troll
- abundance, good health, and joy are part of your heritage
Yeah, maybe. But these students of mine took from my classroom an understanding that they are truly capable of all that they can envision for their lives...and more. They thanked me as they crossed the graduation stage for their diplomas, as they crossed the bridge to the rest of their lives.
The '60s revolution of love, peace, and equality for all shaped me, as it did so many other boomers. We may have been sleeping for these decades (I haven't seen a love-in for years...at least until Pete Seeger sang at the bash before Obama's inauguration), but we're awake again now, and our "grandmother/father" wisdom is spilling out.
So, I say, what have you got to lose by checking in with me every once in a while. After all, I've done the reading...I may just have the answer you're looking for.
Blessings,
Judy
*If you haven't read my first post, Wild Wise Woman is the archetype...the original model. A part of her resides in all of us.
About me...
I'm a not-too-proper Bostonian by birth, without the accent.
I've been a beer tender, construction supervisor, tavern singer, administrative assistant, teacher, writer, entrepreneur. I can hang drywall, grow a mean organic tomato, chop wood, lay tile, refinish furniture, sew, bake bread...even drive a cement block-laden dump truck (but you ask me to do that again at your peril). And I sing better now than I did when I got paid.
I'm a wild and free-spirited, Beatles-crazed, guitar-toting, folk singing '60s hippie flower child.
I'm a Pisces water child, born on the waning cusp. I'm Spring...the promise after each winter of a rebirth of all things growing, and signal for a renewal of faith.
I proclaim God, the Divine, Buddha, the Universal Consciousness as the reason for my life on earth; for the earth itself to exist. I speak to the goddess within, the holy spirit who longs to lead me to my rightful place.
I'm mother of four sons, grandmother, great grandmother. They're distant in too many ways and more than close in so many others.
And I'm passionate about recreating a more simple approach to healthy and abundant living. One that's more in tune with nature and it's rhythms.
I'm an archetypal wise woman. She's within me as she is within all of us.
I've been a beer tender, construction supervisor, tavern singer, administrative assistant, teacher, writer, entrepreneur. I can hang drywall, grow a mean organic tomato, chop wood, lay tile, refinish furniture, sew, bake bread...even drive a cement block-laden dump truck (but you ask me to do that again at your peril). And I sing better now than I did when I got paid.
I'm a wild and free-spirited, Beatles-crazed, guitar-toting, folk singing '60s hippie flower child.
I'm a Pisces water child, born on the waning cusp. I'm Spring...the promise after each winter of a rebirth of all things growing, and signal for a renewal of faith.
I proclaim God, the Divine, Buddha, the Universal Consciousness as the reason for my life on earth; for the earth itself to exist. I speak to the goddess within, the holy spirit who longs to lead me to my rightful place.
I'm mother of four sons, grandmother, great grandmother. They're distant in too many ways and more than close in so many others.
And I'm passionate about recreating a more simple approach to healthy and abundant living. One that's more in tune with nature and it's rhythms.
I'm an archetypal wise woman. She's within me as she is within all of us.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
